Sanctuary of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Stanislaus the Bishop and Martyr Tuchów

Monuments

Słoneczny dzień. Od lewej ulica i mur okalający jasny, murowany kościół, z kwadratową wieżą po prawej stronie. Za nią jasne budynki tworzące literę U. Z przodu rosną wysokie drzewa, po części zasłaniające budynki. Przed nimi ogrodzenie z otwartą bramą. Z tyłu zabudowania pomiędzy drzewami i widok na wyższe pasma gór.

ul. Wysoka 1, 33-170 Tuchów Tourist region: Tarnów i okolice

tel. +48 146327200

Overlooking Tuchów are a baroque church from the 17th century and a Redemptorist monastery from the 19th century. Since 1597, pilgrims have been drawn here by the miraculous image of Our Lady of Tuchów. This Renaissance image dates from the 16th century. Today, the church is a minor basilica, a Marian sanctuary and a place visited by the faithful from all over Poland.

On the hills of the Ciężkowice Foothills lies the small town of Tuchów, where a Baroque brick church was erected on the banks of the Biała River in the mid-17th century. In the 19th century, a Redemptorist monastery was built on the site of the post-Benedictine monastery buildings. The Redemptorists have been taking care of the shrine and the miraculous image of Our Lady and Child since 1893.

The first wooden church dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption was erected in the 11th century by the Benedictine monks from the Tyniec Abbey and is said to have been consecrated by Saint Stanislaus the Martyr Bishop. Tradition has it that it was here that St John Cantius was to have his Primitive Mass. The Benedictines also built a new pilgrimage church dedicated to the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Stanislaus the Bishop and Martyr between 1665 and 1682, which proved necessary in view of the development of Marian devotion. From 1597 onwards, extraordinary phenomena occurred here, and the number of pilgrims visiting the Tuchów sanctuary increased significantly. Today, the church is a minor basilica, a supra-regional Marian sanctuary and a place of pilgrimage – one of the oldest and most visited sanctuaries in south-eastern Poland.

It is a Baroque, single-nave, oriented church with a trilateral closed presbytery surrounded by chapels. The church is topped by a gable roof with a Baroque turret. The presbytery is covered with a cross vault, while the nave has a flat ceiling. The interior furnishings are mainly Baroque. The Late Baroque main altar, dating from 1741 and designed by Antoni Frąckiewicz, features a miraculous image of Our Lady of Tuchów. Also from Antoni Frąckiewicz's workshop comes a late Baroque pulpit from 1726. The Chapel of the Holy Cross also houses a late Baroque altarpiece from the early 18th century with a statue of Christ Crucified. The two side altars represent the Rococo style. The music choir, supported by three pillar arcades, houses a 29-voice organ from 1994. A bell tower was erected between 1922 and 1925. A chapel from 1980 stands in the walled courtyard. The monastery houses the Higher Theological Seminary of the Warsaw Province of the Redemptorists. The Redemptorist Missionary Museum, where the moving Christmas crib is a curiosity, the Sanctuary Museum related to the cult of the Virgin Mary, and the Ethnographic Museum also operate there.

Since 1597, pilgrims have been attracted by the grace-famous image of Our Lady of Tuchów, known as the Lady of the Tarnów Region. The Renaissance image, brought to Tuchów in the mid-16th century, was painted in tempera on a lime board on chalk mortar between 1530 and 1540 by an unknown artist from the workshop of the Master of Bodzentyn (a technique typical of the Renaissance). The image depicts the Virgin Mary up to her midriff with the infant Jesus (whole figure) on her left arm, with golden nimbuses around her head and her eyes full of kindness turned towards those praying. The infant's right hand rests on a blue ball with a cross symbolising Christ's rule over the world, while his left hand is raised in a gesture of blessing. Our Lady holds a blooming rose in her right hand. The image, crowned in 1904, is covered by a silver sheet dress. The Great Indulgence is the Feast of Our Lady, which falls from 2 to 9 July. Other indulgence feasts take place on 31 May at the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and 8 September at the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.